Reza Aslan

- Panelist Blurb

In 1979, at age seven, Reza Aslan fled Iran with his family amidst the chaos of a revolution. Today, he is one of the United State's most respected experts on Islam and the Middle East, a scholar, media consultant and author. In 2005 he published the internationally acclaimed No god but God: the Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, praised by the New York Times as a "grippingly narrated and thoughtfully examined... literate, accessible introduction to Islam."

Aslan is a research associate at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy, Middle East Commentator for NPR's "Marketplace" and Muslim Affairs Analyst for CBS News. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The New York Review of Books, Prospect Magazine (UK), Slate Magazine, and The Nation. Since the publication of No god but God, Aslan has discussed the book on Meet the Press, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Dennis Miller, Hardball, and The Daily Show.

Aslan has served as legislative assistant for the Friends' Committee on National Legislation in Washington, D.C. and was elected president of Harvard's Chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, a United Nations organization committed to solving religious conflicts throughout the world.

Aslan has a B.A. in religion from Santa Clara University, a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard, a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and is currently a doctoral candidate in History of Religions at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

NOTE: Bio is as it appeared in the Forum program from November 7, 2007.